ALS

Hey all! I know I haven’t posted a new entry in a while and that’s because life. 🙂 But I wanted to share that me and my family are going to a local ALS walk and raising money to support research, equipment, and services through the ALS Association in Massachusetts. The ALSA has helped me with things like loaner equipment, paying for a wheelchair ramp for our home, grants to help with costs related to living with ALS, and emotional support. They are also one of the sponsors for Hope Loves Company, otherwise known as Camp HLC, a sleep away camp for children who have a parent with ALS.

You can support me in the Walk by donating or, if you’re anywhere near central MA, joining my team and walking with us!

This is my page for the Walk: HERE To donate, click the link and then click the red “donate to me” link under my name.

This is our team page: HERE To walk with us, click the red “join our team” link and fill out the registration.

I don’t know fully how to explain how I feel about this exchange with an RT in my home this morning, or how to fully explain all the things that are wrong with it. I am lucky to meet and have the caregiving of many exceptional and compassionate healthcare professionals. But the above is an example of a type that I encounter frequently and which I have grown to loathe.

In the beginning it was easy to be forgiving, to overlook unintentional insensitivity, well intended but misguided advice, kind ignorance, and plain human curiosity.

The curiosity bothers me more and more over time, as I begin to see healthcare providers as using their professional position to satisfy their personal curiosity. I am frequently asked, in that authoritative doctor or nurse (or even dentist) voice, how my ALS symptoms started. This is in a context in which is it totally irrelevant and has no bearing on what the provider is seeing me for. I have been at the ER for a migraine, or the dentist for a cleaning, or at one of my children’s healthcare appointments, and I am asked this, again and again. It is not part of their job in that moment, it is just curiosity. I feel there is a subtle abuse of power there, though the individual is often sympathetic and well intentioned. But have any of them ever thought far enough to realize maybe they are causing me pain to satisfy their morbid curiosity? That maybe it’s hard for me to tell my story again and again?

This morning an RT I’ve met only one other time in my life, asked me casually “how my ALS is doing,” and prodded about my disease progression. As if asking how quickly my death approaches is on par with discussing the chance of rain. This is a person whose only job is to periodically check that my non-invasive ventilator is working and that I have enough supplies.

This same RT tends to speak to me in that voice specially reserved for four-year-olds and, apparently, the very infirm.

The nurse who flushes my port once a month did not know ALS was degenerative and ultimately terminal. After several awkward conversations where she was describing “when you’re better…” and “hope you’ve got some strength back next month!” whilst I tried to respond vaguely, I finally had to explain to her that I cannot recover the strength I’ve lost and I will, unfortunately, not get better. This inevitably led to me comforting her, so when my husband or I encounter this with a professional we won’t see regularly we don’t bother explaining. This happens a lot, despite that these are people involved in my care. But they aren’t ALS people. They serve individuals with all different diagnoses, so I don’t blame them for not knowing all about mine. That doesn’t mean I have endless patience though.

Some providers insist on trying to have a friendship with me. Sometimes I just want them to come, do what they need to do, and leave. Keep it professional. I don’t want to be everyone’s friend. Some nurses I “click” with and we do develop a natural friendship, but I have others that I don’t feel that with, and yet they push me hard for personal chat and I find it really invasive. To be fair, I’m that person who hates going to the hairdresser because they do the same thing, so maybe I’m just too antisocial. But when I put out those “I don’t want to talk” vibes and they push on anyway, I feel like they’re again taking advantage of that bit of power they have where I’m the patient and I’m supposed to answer their questions and do as I’m told. I get angry and resentful.

Sometimes I really think ALS just brings out my inner bitch in a big way. I find myself angry at everyone. Feeling powerless makes you want to lash out. But I think I have some legitimate gripes about some of the care providers I interact with. I wish they understood what’s it’s like to be on the patient end of the relationship.

Share this:

Like this:

My entire adult life to-date, when I approached a new life stage that I was unsure of, I would find books to advise and guide me through it. Often, I sought out multiple perspectives on the matter that allowed me to find my way. Books on marriage, pregnancy, breastfeeding, parenting, and autism still scatter throughout our bookshelves. So naturally, as I contemplate my own death in terms of my ALS diagnosis, I have been looking for books on how to die. How do I make the most of whatever time I have left while simultaneously coping with the grief and fear that accompany this process? How do I find spiritual peace in coming to terms with my end? How do I manage my time, now that it has become so definitively finite? Sometimes so many days and weeks pass in mundane every-day-life activities and I begin to feel terribly anxious that I am just wasting time that I cannot afford to waste. Yet, it is simply not possible to fill all my days with extraordinary experiences. The questions go on and on, and I felt certain there must be guide books out there- books on how to die. Unlike marriage or motherhood, death is a certainty for absolutely every single one of us. So surely, I thought, there must be many books on this subject. But I couldn’t find a single one. Not one.

There are related books– books for those we leave behind- on how to cope with a loved one dying. There are memoirs by those who are diagnosed with terminal illnesses. There are books on chronic illness, and books on making medical decisions when faced with a terminal diagnosis. But I could not find any books specifically on how to die in the non-medical sense.

At first I thought it was because no one has died and come back to write a how-to guide for us. But then I realized that made no sense. Most pregnancy books are written by doctors not mothers, most parenting books are written by psychologists or other “experts” not parents, and so on. The reason professionals tend to write these books is because they have seen hundreds of people go through whatever it is they are writing about, whereas those of us who have been through it ourselves only really have our one particular experience to draw from. So why hasn’t a doctor or therapist or social worker who has watched hundreds of patients go through their deaths written a book to help guide those of us newly on this final journey?

While it’s in the form of a memoir, I did find a book that I thought would offer me some insight, called The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. I think it’s particularly relevant since she was also a mother of young children when she received her terminal diagnosis. I’m going to start with that and see if it is helpful for me. But I find it strange and rather culturally telling that there are not really books out there on how to die.

Share this:

Like this:

I use a wheelchair part-time right now. Which basically means if we are going to be somewhere where I have to stay on my feet for more than 10 minutes I use the wheelchair. I sometimes feel embarrassed knowing people have seen me walk, but have also seen me in my wheelchair. I wonder if they think I’m a fraud or something. Part of the reason I use the wheelchair is because I don’t have the stamina or muscle strength to walk for very long. But another big part of the reason is falls.

For a lot of people with ALS (hereafter I’ll use the acronym PALS), falls are the first symptom of this disease. The majority of PALS are limb-onset, and of those, it is more common to start in the legs/feet. I am bulbar onset, meaning it started in my speech/swallow region. When I was first diagnosed my legs were totally fine to walk and run. As the disease has progressed it has slowly been making it’s way down to my legs. Over the past few months I’ve started having falls. The problem with falls for PALS is that we have weakness in many parts of our body and that often means that we are unable to maneuver ourselves mid-fall. It’s more of a rag-doll fall, zero control. This is so hard to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it. Suffice to say, you have no idea how skilled you are at falling until that skill is removed.

I had a fall the other afternoon. My head smacked against something and opened a small wound that bled like crazy and scared my husband! Luckily, despite all the blood, it did not need stitches so I am recovering in the comfort of my own home. Falling is dangerous for PALS, and it’s a big reason to start using the wheelchair, or another mobility aide if one is deemed more appropriate. Not only are falls dangerous in terms of potential for acute injury, but, for reasons not entirely clear, falls seem to speed up disease progression in PALS. And that is the absolute worst thing for us.

So the next time you see someone in and out of a wheelchair keep in mind there are many people with all different disabilities who legitimately need a wheelchair but can also sometimes walk.

Share this:

Like this:

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that I titled Everything is Not Okay. I wrote about my deep fears and anxieties about what is happening to me, and about death. I wrote about my kids and how this affects them. I wrote about the day-to-day struggles. I wrote about choking and laryngospasm episodes where I feel like I’m suffocating to death. Those moments of thinking “I’m really going to die right here at the dinner table in front of my children,” and the trauma that leaves on my psyche afterward. I got a lot off my chest, which was good, but I couldn’t bring myself to publish the post. It sits in my draft pile and it will maybe get deleted, or maybe just sit there unpublished like a private diary entry.

So no, everything is not ok. Even though when asked I always say “we’re ok,” “we’re fine.” In general I’m objectively not okay. I have a degenerative terminal disease. So no, everything is not okay. BUT. But.. But in this moment, I am okay. Okay enough to be here writing to all of you. Okay enough to share some things, and keep others to myself. Okay enough to smile at the birds outside my window.

My experience with the unpublished post made me realize I need to share more. Not everything- I want to keep my darkest most vulnerable stuff to myself. But I think if I explained some of the things I experience on a regular basis it would both inform others and help me feel less isolated. So stay tuned. I’m going to dedicate the next several posts to these topics.